Former Florida coach Dan Mullen appears on ESPN's College GameDay
Almost two weeks after he was fired from Florida, Dan Mullen was back on college football fans’ televisions on Saturday. He was on ESPN’s College GameDay as an analyst ahead of Championship Weekend.
Mullen helped the GameDay crew break down Alabama and Georgia film ahead of the SEC Championship, which kicks off Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on CBS.
Florida fired Mullen on Nov. 21 after four years at the helm. He took the Gators to a 34-15 record over that span, but went 13-10 in his last two seasons in Gainesville.
Earlier this year, Mullen made headlines for an interesting comment about recruiting, which didn’t go over well with Gators fans. Florida also trailed FCS program Samford at halftime on Nov. 13 before pulling out the win — which also wasn’t a good sign for Mullen’s future.
The Gators finished 6-6 this season, which puts them in a bowl game. Florida recently hired Louisiana coach Billy Napier to replace Mullen as head coach. Napier is coaching Louisiana in the Sun Belt Championship on Saturday and will get to work with his new team on Sunday.
ESPN: One key factor to watch in SEC Championship Game
This Saturday’s conference championship game slate could change the College Football Playoff like never before, and ESPN has what you need to know. With six of the nine teams with a chance to make the playoffs set to play on Saturday, it’s anybody’s guess on who makes it into the final four.
One of the biggest games taking place on Saturday is the Southeastern Conference Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs.
The team over at ESPN have broken down the tale of the tape and this is their one key point to be mindful of in this heavyweight showdown.
One key: Bryce Young‘s sack rate.
“After averaging 42.7 points per game against its first six power conference opponents, Alabama averaged only 24.0 points (in regulation) against LSU, Arkansas and Auburn. Opponents are doing a better job of taking away quarterback Bryce Young’s quickest reads and making him freeze a bit: Young went from taking sacks on 5.6% of his dropbacks and throwing 30.3% of his passes at or behind the line to 9.9% and 18.8%, respectively. He’s completing more downfield passes, but at a price,” wrote Bill Connelly of ESPN.
“Georgia has the best defense in the country. The Dawgs harass quarterbacks without blitzing (ninth in sack rate, 80th in blitzes per dropback) and swallow up short passes. Auburn held Young to 4.9 yards per dropback last week, and Georgia’s pass defense is quite a bit better than Auburn’s. Can the Tide make enough plays to keep up.”